Top 10 Solar Microinverter Manufacturers in the United States | APT

Every solar energy system is composed of various important components, and one of these important components is solar microinverter. Essentially speaking, the solar microinverter, or simply known as microinverter, is a plug-and-play device that converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). This device is primarily used in photovoltaics, particularly in solar modules.

Microinverters differ from conventional string and central solar inverters in that a single inverter is connected to multiple solar panels. Meanwhile, the output from several microinverters can be combined and often fed to the electrical grid. Moreover, microinverters also have several advantages over conventional inverters. The primary advantage is that they electrically isolate the panels from each other, so small amounts of shading, debris, or snow lines on any of the solar modules, or even a complete module failure, will not disproportionately reduce the output of the entire array. Aside from that, other advantages include simplicity in system design, lower amperage wires, simplified stock management, and added safety.

Because of the wide range of advantages that microinverters offer, it’s no surprise that as solar installers, you would want to have them in your solar energy systems. Luckily, there are quite a lot of manufacturers and wholesalers who can provide you with high-quality microinverters. The United States, in particular, is well-known for housing a number of these manufacturers and wholesalers.

That is why if you’re a solar installation business based in the U.S. and you’re in need of quality microinverters, here is a list of ten manufacturers and wholesalers that you can look up.

Related article: Solar Power Statistics in the USA 2019

Top Manufacturers or Wholesalers of Solar Microinverters in the United States

Enphase Energy

Website: https://enphase.com/en-us

Founded in 2006, Enphase Energy is a NASDAQ-listed energy technology company that is headquartered in Fremont, California. The company primarily designs and manufactures software-driven home energy solutions that span solar generation, home energy storage, and web-based monitoring and control.

In June 2008, the company introduced the world’s first microinverter system. And since then, they have already shipped about ten million solar microinverters, primarily into the residential and commercial markets in North America, Europe, and Australia. In addition to that, they also have had over 940,000 installations all over the world. With all of these accomplishments, Enphase Energy is recognized as the first company to successfully commercialize the microinverter on a wide scale. And until now, they remain the market leader.

SolarBridge Technologies/SunPower

Website: https://us.sunpower.com/

Based in Austin, Texas, SolarBridge Technologies is a manufacturer and provider of solar microinverters and solar inverters for photovoltaic arrays. The company was established in 2004 with a goal to bring to market power electronics technologies that were created at the University of Illinois. However, in the autumn of 2014, SolarBridge was acquired by SunPower Corporation, which is one of the largest solar panel manufacturers in the United States. Because of this, SolarBridge’s microinverters are usually paired with SunPower solar panels.

The SolarBridge Pantheon microinverter is mounted directly on the solar panel to create a roof-ready AC module. Additionally, this product has passed all tests required under the Underwriters Laboratories 1741 safety standard, as certified by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).

Advanced Energy Industries

Website: https://www.advancedenergy.com

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. is a company that primarily develops power and control technologies for the manufacture of semiconductors, flat panel displays, data storage products, industrial coatings, medical devices, solar cells, and architectural glass. They also used to manufacture and sell gas-system products for semiconductors, but eventually, withdrew from the market of gas-system products.

The company was founded in 1981, and since then, they have operated in regional centers in North America, Asia, and Europe. Additionally, they also offer global sales and support through direct offices, representatives, and distributors. As of right now, they have manufacturing facilities in the U.S., EMEA, and Asia.

CyboEnergy

Website: http://www.cyboenergy.com/index.html

Located in California, CyboEnergy Inc. is a subsidiary of CyboSoft and General Cybernation Group Inc. The company primarily focuses on the development, manufacturing, marketing, and servicing of the product lines in the energy and clean energy field. To be more specific, they develop the world’s first solar power Mini-inverter, called the CyboInverter, which possesses the key merits of both central inverters and microinverters. With this, CyboEnergy offers on-grid, off-grid, and on-/off-grid CyboInverters. Aside from that, they also offer battery-less off-grid CyboInverters for electric water heaters and Inverter-Air-Conditioners (IAC).

CyboEnergy received the Frost & Sullivan’s 2013 Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award for Solar Inverters and Frost & Sullivan’s 2017 Global Solar Inverter Technology Innovation Award.

Petra Systems

Website: http://www.petrasystems.com/

Petra Systems Inc. is a leading global technology provider for markets of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and distributed power generation. The company delivers remotely managed networks for Smart City infrastructure, leveraging core expertise in power electronics, controls, and communications. As of right now, they have more than 250,000 installed systems all over the world. And Petra Systems aims to raise that number by combining technology innovation and competitive financing to help municipalities, utilities, and transportation authorities transform streetlights into valuable and forward-looking assets.

Chilicon Power

Website: https://www.chiliconpower.com/

Chilicon Power was founded under the premise of sustainable organic growth from a business standpoint. The company has been involved with generously financed startups in the past, and initially, their focus was on “nano-inverters” for building integrated photovoltaic modules. However, they soon shifted their focus to building the world’s highest efficiency 60-cell module inverters, microinverters, and Gateway. All of their products are designed and manufactured in California.

Apparent

Website: https://www.apparent.com/

Founded in 2007, Apparent is a clean-power and energy efficiency company that is based in Novato, California. The company takes pride in the fact that they’re the only company to provide a sustainable and reliable ancillary quality resource. They work with investment partners and service providers to construct and manage sustainable facilities, thus generating cleaner power while outperforming traditional generation.

At the heart of Apparent’s suite of energy technologies is the intelligent grid operating system (igOS), which is a cloud-based, machine-learning application that manages distribution level energy assets in parallel with the grid. Hosted on three platforms — namely, electrical panels, solar microinverters, and battery power control systems — energy systems that Apparent offers can operate independently or in concert at customer-designated levels of services.

Blue Frog Solar

Website: https://bluefrogsolar.com/

Blue Frog Solar LLC was founded in 2011 in Poulsbo, Washington with a goal to bring the finest solar design and technology to the Pacific Northwest. The company is primarily known for developing and selling microinverters. But aside from that, they also have a Simple Solar program, where they offer complete solar financing, as well as materials and installation package for residential and commercial PV systems. The Simple Solar program offers the best pricing and the smoothest and most buyer-friendly process for installing the solar arrays.

eIQ Energy

Website: http://www.eiqenergy.com/

Located in Santa Clara, California, eIQ Energy Inc. was founded in 2007 by experts in power electronics, power semiconductors, and power conversion architectures to provide power conversion technologies to the renewable energy world. The company’s most well-known product is the vBoost, which is a DC-DC boost converter that converts PV modules from low voltage/high current devices to high voltage/low current devices. This product can be placed in parallel where each becomes an independent power generator. This was introduced in 2009, and since then, over 3.3 MW of this has been installed worldwide.

Aside from this product, eIQ Energy also offers other kinds of products. Some of these include DC-DC converters for battery storage units, AC rectifiers to convert generator or grid power to DC, off-grid inverters optimized for applications within this DC domain, and microinverters.

HiQ Solar

Website: http://hiqsolar.com/

HiQ Solar is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that aims to bring their technology to market through partnerships with large solar system manufacturers and installation companies that use standard or customized versions of their products. Founded in 2009, the company draws on a decade of industry experience in related technologies with a veteran team from a combination of test and measurement, automotive, and renewable energy backgrounds.

HiQ’s successful products include the award-winning TrueString solar inverter series and the recently introduced TrueString XL model, which incorporates both standalone and hybrid solar-plus-storage solutions.

Takeaway: Looking for Manufacturers or Wholesalers of Solar Microinverters?

When it comes to solar energy systems, solar installers would understandably want them to be of the best quality as possible. And in order to achieve that, one thing that they can do is to invest in solar microinverters. This is because solar microinverters electrically isolate the panels from each other, so even with small amounts of shading, debris, or snow lines on any of the solar modules will not reduce the output of the entire array. This is completely different from conventional string and central solar inverters since a single inverter is connected to multiple solar panels.

Because of the advantages that solar microinverters offer, solar installers should consider having them in their solar systems. Fortunately, manufacturers and wholesalers of microinverters exist, and they can easily help you with that. Even better, there are a lot of these manufacturers and wholesalers, so you won’t run out of options for your business.

You can find a ton of solar microinverter manufacturers or wholesalers in the U.S. alone. The ten companies mentioned above are only some of them. If you’re really serious about finding the best manufacturer or wholesaler for your business, then you can choose to look through each of the companies first. After that, you can narrow this list down into the ones that you like. And you can even choose to look for more manufacturers or wholesalers out there. Just be extra deliberate and careful when choosing your manufacturer or wholesaler. This is because the quality of your products and service heavily relies on your chosen manufacturer or wholesaler, so you better choose wisely.

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